and what will stop it.
by Za Metallium
Summary: "Love's what makes the world go 'round."


...and what will stop it.

**...and what will stop it.**   
by [Za Metallium][1]

  


"Love's what makes the world go 'round."   
—old saying

"Don't go," Lina pleaded, grabbing Xelloss' arm. 

"I'm truly sorry, Lina-chan," he murmured, putting his free hand atop hers, "but I have no choice. I have to obey Juuou-sama." 

"I...know," Lina said, sagging. "But..." 

He hushed her with a kiss. "It should only be a few days." 

"Bloody war," Lina pouted, resting her head in the crook of his neck. 

"You have no idea, dearest." 

Lina sniffed. "All right. But you'd better come back soon, or I'll come after you." 

"Is that a promise?" Xelloss asked with a suggestive smile. 

"You'd better believe it, Mister Trickster Priest." 

He kissed her again before teleporting away. Lina sighed and sat down. Stupid, stupid war. All the races were at each others' throats. Lina wouldn't have given a flying fig if Beastmaster hadn't forced Xelloss to get involved in the bloody thing. 

"You're spoiled, Lina Inverse," she muttered to herself. "You've had him all to yourself for decades and you just don't want to share." Of course, there was also the fear that something might happen to him, but she didn't want to acknowledge that. 

She wandered around the room—_their_ room—picking up a knickknack here, smiling at a piece of clothing there... 

Lina's heart froze in her chest. She felt...something. Ice running down her spine. It took her only a moment to realise: "Xelloss!" 

_Please let me be wrong, please let me be wrong, please, please, gods, let me be wrong..._

She wasn't wrong. Lina teleported to the battlefield, using Xelloss staff as a beacon, and screamed. Then screamed some more. 

She was peripherally aware of almost everyone staring at her now, but she ignored them. "No no no no no..." she pleaded, a useless mantra barely audible. 

Xelloss, her lover, her companion, possibly even her raison d'être, lay in a bloody heap, dead or dying. Lina knelt down and cradled his head in her lap, gently pushing bloody locks of hair away from his face. Almost as an afterthought, she erected a powerful shield. 

"Lina-chan..." he whispered, wincing at the effort to speak. 

"Shh, shh, I'm here. I'll take care of you, I'll—" 

"Lina-chan," he said again. "I'm sorry." He coughed, his lips stained crimson by the blood. "I love you." It was barely a breath of sound. 

"I love you, too, you secretive bastard," she murmured, then kissed him. 

And then he died. 

Lina was frozen with shock a moment, then again took up her mantra: "No no no no no no no..." 

Then she broke down into hysterics. 

No one disturbed her as she wept pitifully, probably because there was very little in the world that could break through this particular shielding spell. At length she cried herself dry. Her eyes ached, her throat burned, and her heart was dead weight in her chest. 

Slowly, so slowly, she took Xelloss' staff from his cooling hand. Then she rose, glaring at the gathered armies. She was still the centre of attention, it seemed. Bloody voyeurs couldn't give her a little privacy. 

"You will regret this day," she rasped. Then, unable to stand their loathsome presences any longer, she teleported herself and her lover's corpse away. 

She saw to his funeral herself. Xelas had no right to join her; it was the Beastmaster's fault Xelloss had been at the battle in the first place. 

The service was simple. Lina simply kissed him goodbye, then consigned his body to flames. She stared at the pyre until only embers remained. 

Lina was not one accustomed to hating. She'd been willing to forgive almost anyone almost anything...before. Now, she hated them, all of them, human, ryuzoku, mazoku. She'd been happy, and it was their fault her happiness was destroyed. 

Taking Xelloss' staff in hand, she teleported back to the battlefield. As she suspected, they were still at it. Well, not for long. 

"Xelloss..." she breathed, pressing her lips to the sphere atop Xelloss' staff, the colour of broken rosepetals. Did he know, wherever he was, how much she missed him? How much his death had hurt? 

_Enough._ Now she was going to show all of them exactly what weight Lina Inverse's threats held. Holding Xelloss' staff aloft, she began chanting:   
"_Darkness beyond blackest pitch   
Deeper than the deepest night.   
King of Darkness who shines like gold   
Upon the Sea of Chaos..._" 

Ironically—or perhaps fittingly—it was Lina's sister, leader of the ryuzoku armies, who first realised what Lina was doing. 

"Lina—stop!" Luna commanded, her yell so powerful that most everyone stopped to see what the fuss was. 

Lina smiled with bitter satisfaction. _Not this time, Oneechan._   
"_I call upon Thee!   
I swear myself to Thee!   
Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed   
By the power You and I possess!_" 

Lina was by now more than adept at controlling Nightmare Magicks. She was intimately familiar with them. Therefore, she also knew just how and when to lose control to gain the desired effect... 

They were closing in, Lina noted as she watched them through the red glow of the Bloodstones, Xelloss' staff, and her own hatred. The terror she saw on many of the faces approaching her was gratifying. 

Lina smiled triumphantly. Now the world would be pulled into darkness, just as her heart had been when they'd taken Xelloss from her. 

"_GIGA SLAVE!_"   
  


–end...and I _do_ mean end–

   [1]: mailto:ZaMetallium@aol.com



End file.
